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KCWM Music and Some Thoughts

Posted on February 25, 2022March 1, 2022 By kcwm No Comments on KCWM Music and Some Thoughts

This post was initially made to coldthewinter.com, but as I had to rebuild that site and build this one, I felt like it was more fitting here. So this is kind of a version 2.0 of this post, and another to follow, but more up to date than it was whenever I actually posted it.

Let’s break this into two sections:

“Why haven’t I been streaming?”

When I started the idea of releasing music under the KCWM name, I wanted to stream that process. For most of the first three albums I did just that, albeit at the cost of what little viewership I had. Then again, I didn’t start streaming games or music with the idea that I’d experience success.

After writing three 24 new songs and remixing 12 others across three albums and spread out over the course of six months, I was burned out. I used to think I wanted to play music for a living, but after working on music for 3-4 hours a day almost every day I realized that I do not.

I’ve never been great at multitasking. I tend to obsess over one thing for bursts of time and there are four activities that take up my “creative energy”: Gaming, painting D&D miniatures, writing my novel, and writing songs. I can generally do one and a half of those at a time. Couple burning out with starting up a couple of online games with my friends, I fell away from music.

The friends that I play games with are friends that I’ve grown up with and known for 30+ years. Our humor is not safe for stream and I didn’t want to spend the time to figure out how to keep our Discord chat out of the stream. As I wasn’t working on music, I didn’t stream that either.

Once Christmas rolled around. I was going to take December off. Christmas is a big deal for my family. We decorate our yard, and I don’t mean lining the house with lights. We have inflatables, wrap the trees, line the yard, garage, and fence. We dress up the poles on our porch, put lights on our bushes, and generally go the whole nine yards. We also spend almost every night driving around to look at Christmas lights. We have family time. Ellie is nine now, which is the age that memories REALLY start to take hold and I want her to have memories of us doing things as a family.

Then, at the beginning of January 2022, I was hospitalized with a severe case of Diabetic Ketoacidosis, or DKA. I came very close to dying and spent seven days in the ICU. After being released, my back was and still is in terrible shape. I struggled to sit for more than 30 minutes to an hour at a time and, even now, a month a half since that release, I struggle to sit for more than a couple of hours. It just hurts.

“What happened to Volume Four?”

Writing is a challenging process. Sometimes I have these amazing, creative bursts where things just come to me, and sometimes I slam my head against the wall trying to come up with something that speaks to me.

I  wrote, learned, practiced, and recorded most of the 24 new songs I wrote for KCWM in a matter of hours, something that generally happens over the course of days, weeks, or months. My brain is the only brain in the creative process. This is both helpful and a hindrance. There’s no one to check me and say “Is that really the best thing?” and sometimes that happens internally well into the process. I then have to scrap what I realize isn’t working and start over a few steps back.

I also play everything…every guitar note you hear. If I were to use loops, where I record each part and then just copy/paste it, things would go MUCH faster. It’d be easier, but it wouldn’t be fulfilling. It’s also something I have not practiced. It feels GREAT to be able to say that I played something from start to finish, even I record it in separate parts (like the verses and choruses of “Sometimes It Works Out”). Perhaps I should consider it more for Volume Four and beyond.

“So what now?”

There have been folks that have been supportive of my music. I wouldn’t have recently crossed the threshold of 100k listens on Spotify without those folks. While 100k isn’t much for some people, for someone who has just over 260 followers on Twitter and less than 200 on Twitch, which amounts to an incredibly small online presence, it’s something I thought was impossible. I want them to know I haven’t given up, haven’t lost my drive, still intend to do this, and will continue coming out with fresh material.

As I wrap up being on short term disability for work and recovering from whatever injury this was to my back, I will return to streaming the recording process. I want to work on creating TikToks on how to play the parts I’ve written (that I can remember) and YouTube videos of how a song grows. That requires A LOT of creativity. I’m not there yet, but I want to be and that’s half the battle.

 

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Cold the Winter · Skylines and the Horizon

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I have a number of minis I’m working on at the m I have a number of minis I’m working on at the moment. Here’s my table of things in different stages of #tabletopquality for use in my #dnd campaign, some of which haven’t been started or might not be used. The kobolds you see will be painted green.

When I started the genie, I didn’t realized my pre-painted one was also blue. It still works though. 

I’m still not sold on the idea of a steel dragon but it could be cool and I already have a “large” silver dragon. I used magnets on the bottom of the dragon, the large and huge bases, and I can stack them if I need it to be an adult-sized dragon. I just need to decorate them in complimentary ways. 

 I have an idea for mini painting streams and these are some of the things I’ll be painting on there.
I have a soft spot for kobolds in my DnD campaigns I have a soft spot for kobolds in my DnD campaigns. My players have met one that has hinted at future quests, they fought some green-scaled kobolds, and I foresee more in their future. 

I pulled the old minion old rule from #dnd 4e…enemies that have 1 hp and auto fail most saves. Kobolds (and goblins) make great minions. 

 I have quite a few, so I foresee more red (two of them are pre painted), green, and blue scales in my future. They might be #tabletopquality but I’m ok with that. I have fun and painting is relaxing for me. 

The red plastic minis came from a D&D board game, and tall but one of the gray and white ones are from @reaperminiatures #bones4 and #bones5
In March of 2021, I discovered the Lovepedal Purpl In March of 2021, I discovered the Lovepedal Purple Plexi and it was finally the closest I’ve come to getting that Marshall-in-a-Box pedal sound. 

Earlier this year, I picked up a Lovepedal Vintage/Modern, which is a Purple Plexi and Church of Tone in one enclosure. 

Not too long ago, I came across a post @cklabofficial posted of their take on a Purple Plexi/Jubilee, two pedals I owned at the time. I really like CKLab pedals and would have loved to have it, but, alas, I missed out. 

I reached out and asked about the possibility of a 2-in-1 from CKLAB. This is the result. 

I am beyond stoked. This will make my 3rd CKLab pedal and I hope to own more. I love the idea of support local makers and, seeing as how the Vintage/Modern is my go to drive, this will be my #1. 

Visit their store on Reverb and buy their pedals so I’m not tempted to. Seriously. The LSDelay I bought is so damned cool. 

#supportlocalpedals #cklab #miabpedals #gooddudes #newpedalday
A couple of #WIP #dndminiatures projects from this A couple of #WIP #dndminiatures projects from this weekend. I intend to use both in the #dnd campaign im running, but it will be a while before I do. 

I need to add some white lines to the texture around the iris and add something to the black section of the base. 

The mold lines on the pumpkin dude are bugging me now that I see how clear they are in the picture. Will cut those down and fix the color. 

I intend to prime up some of these #reaper #bones5 minis I have sitting on my shelves and paint them on stream. I might only paint to a #tabletopquality but it’s still fun and relaxing to do.
After picking up almost all the paints in the thir After picking up almost all the paints in the third picture, I’ve taken up mini painting again. I decided to start with a treant to work into my #dnd campaign. 

This is still a work in progress. I started with some normal paints and then added some contrast paint on the beard and to accent some of the wood. I need to make some adjustments to the paint. 

I plan to add leaves to the top but my foliage is too crumbly so I need to get some bigger chunks. 

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This kid. This past Saturday marked 10 years with This kid. This past Saturday marked 10 years with our wonderful child…a blend of her mother and I in so many ways. 

I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years bring us. She has a good head on her shoulders. 

I’m a proud parent. She’s weird AF but I wouldn’t have her any other way.
Cross post from Twitter, but I have more room here Cross post from Twitter, but I have more room here. 

This is my current stable of electric guitars, minus my Epiphone ES339.

PRS S2 McCarty 594: “Fat” rhythm. This guitar has “coil tap” which  changes the sound of the respective pickups giving me a lot of flexibility. 

Fender Telecaster (sunburst): Lead/rhythm. I do 90% of my 2nd guitar and lead work on this. It’s on every track I’ve recorded since 2018. 

Squier Classic Vibe ‘60s Stratocaster: General rhythm. Newest addition. Everyone needs a strat, even if I rarely grab one. 

Fender Road-worn ‘50s Telecaster (purple): Bright rhythm. 

Gibson Les Paul Classic: “Fat” rhythm. My #1 guitar. It’s crunchy compared to the smoother sound of the PRS

PRS SC245 Ted McCarty: Bright rhythm. 

Squier ‘51 (modified): Lead

Yes, some guitars overlap but they sound different than their role-siblings. Wood, pickups, etc. I compare guitars to chocolate…yes, they’re all guitars but they do things differently. Hersheys doesn’t taste the same as Toblerone or Ritter Sport. Milk chocolate differs from dark chocolate. Heck, I even threw a peanut butter comparison up there. 

I have two basses and an acoustic. One of those basses is new so I’m not sure of the roles just yet. 

#kcwmmusic #dmcafreemusic #guitarsarelikechocolate #gearaddiction #guitar
Bought a new caddy from Michaels and was able to s Bought a new caddy from Michaels and was able to stack my unopened #nolzursmarvelousminiatures and #reaperbonesminiatures to better see what I have. 

Left row is full of player mini and humanoids, the middle row is made up of monstrous humanoids and undead, and the right row consists of elementals and fiendish things. 

I have a lot of minis to paint, but this helps me visualize what I have left between the shelves and this caddy.
Well… Well…
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Hey, uh @walmart, this isn’t how rollbacks work. Hey, uh @walmart, this isn’t how rollbacks work. #rollback
Not too long ago, we picked up a KALLAX shelf syst Not too long ago, we picked up a KALLAX shelf system from IKEA to store my #dnd minis on. It’s been handy for sorting the minis by “collection” like my Bones 4 and Bones 5 minis, but, as you can see in the 2nd picture, I lost plenty of vertical space. 

A few weeks ago, I saw a video on TikTok where a guy used KVISSLE letter trays to store his minis on. They are easy to assemble and the trays simply slide in and out without rollers. 

For most minis on a 1” or smaller base, it’s absolutely perfect AND there’s room at the bottom for the box sets like the Essentials Kit or Starter Set. For larger minis, you can see I removed one of the trays and that shelf has plenty of giants on it and the KVISSLE still has two shelves out of the picture (Ellie took it and sent it to me). 

He used spray paint to paint the shelves black but I’m opting for the white on black look. You can also buy magnets to install on the bottoms of the minis but I’ve yet to do that. 

It’s easy to amass a big collection of DnD #miniatures through the #reaperbones collections or the #nolzursmarvelousminiatures packs and having an easy way to organize them is incredibly useful. 

Now it’s just a matter of painting them. Oof.
My newest single, “Go On”, is live on Spotify My newest single, “Go On”, is live on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/album/0bTGahUMwQnPrIECWapOby?si=aGrl3wvhQAOugU3Yo07EeQ for your DMCA-free listening needs. 

#Distrokid put this image together and I dig it. Check it, and the other 90s-infuenced instrumental rock music on Spotify and other streaming platforms!

#dmcafreemusic #dmcafreerock #streammusic #music #guitarrock #guitar #kcwmmusic
He’s a good #pickle @teresa.aldaco @moriaheliz He’s a good #pickle 

@teresa.aldaco @moriahelizabethofficial
Started on 6/7/21, shelved due to significant burn Started on 6/7/21, shelved due to significant burnout, and delayed due to health reasons, "Go On", the 1st song of #kcwmmusic Volume Four is moving along. 

The EZKeys you see plays a more front & center role on this song than the last time I used keys on "Sometimes It Works Out" on Volume One. I might end up going with a more traditional piano, but so far I'm digging the setting you see pictured. 

As with my previous KCWM releases, I'm using Superior Drummer 3, though I plan to dig more into some of the presets and expansions to vary the drums, especially on some of the more laid back songs.

This album is the first of mine to feature acoustic guitar on numerous tracks thanks to a pair of Rode M5 mics, another significant shift. 

I'm definitely looking to add some more songs to the more relaxed playlist on Spotify. Acoustic guitar and piano definite help keep me in that headspace. 

I have two days off and I'm hoping to get the 2nd, and maybe a 3rd guitar, recorded. Then it's just a matter of spacing things out before getting this up on Spotify as a single for people to use. 

I'll keep you posted

#dmcafreemusic #dmcafreerock #songwriting #ezkeys @toontrack @rodemic
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